Message From the Editor

With the 6th United Nations Environment Assembly taking place in Nairobi this week, questions on financing climate solutions were high on the docket. DeSmog also delved into financial matters this week, with two compelling stories focusing on investments and the climate crisis.

First, major pension funds from around the globe have shown their commitment to combating climate change through sustainable investment strategies. So it might come as a surprise that Canada’s major pension funds are dragging their heels on climate change investments.

DeSmog reporter Taylor Noakes goes deep into a new study that shows Canadian pensions are acting as if the climate crisis isn’t happening by continuing to invest heavily in the fossil fuel sector. The report reveals the nation’s pension funds are lagging far behind their international peers — only three of the 11 funds studied have joined credible and reputable international investor groups aligned to the Paris Agreement targets. “Failing to have a credible and ambitious climate plan is a recipe for underperformance in the years to come,” Adam Scott, director of Shift Action, which put out the report, told DeSmog.

Second, DeSmog’s Hugh Wheelan and TJ Jordan investigate how major advertising and PR firms score highly on rankings used to gauge a company’s sustainability performance in the stock market. However, Hugh and TJ found that these scores take little or no account of multiple risks associated with the ad and PR industry’s role in the climate crisis — from reputational damage caused by greenwashing fossil fuel clients, to threats to staff retention, and the danger of being sued for climate damages.  

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Powerful public-interest journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: John Englart (Flickr CC)

Investors Challenge ‘Blind Spots’ in Climate-Friendly Ratings for Ad and PR Giants

— By Hugh Wheelan and TJ Jordan (12 min) —

For money managers who want to prove they care about the climate, buying shares in big advertising and public relations companies might look like a safe bet.

Ad giants such as WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic Group (IPG) score highly on the rankings used to gauge a company’s sustainability performance — so they’re attractive to green fund investors. 

Canadian Pension Funds Haven’t Kept Up with Financial Risks of Climate Change, Report Finds

— By Taylor Noakes (5 min. read) —

Canada’s major pension funds are dragging their heels on climate change, according to a new report from Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health. 

Shift Action is a charitable initiative that seeks to protect pensions and the climate by tracking pension fund investments and comparing them with climate policies.

Meat Industry Using ‘Misinformation’ to Block Dietary Change, Report Finds

— By Clare Carlile (4 min. read) —

The agriculture sector has spent millions of dollars on discrediting plant-based diets, a new report has claimed. 

The report, published by the consumer advocacy organisation Freedom Food Alliance on Thursday (29 February), found that multinational meat companies and lobby groups were using industry-funded research, public ad campaigns and educational materials to sway public opinion on meat and dairy.

NYC Pensions Are Sued for Shedding Fossil Fuels

— By Liz Rosenburg (9 min. read) —

Monica Weiss attended her first fossil-fuel divestment protest on a frigid February day in 2015. She joined college students, financial experts, faith leaders, and then-New York City Public Advocate Letitia James in front of the New York Stock Exchange to demand that the city’s five public pension funds factor the financial risks of climate change into their investment decisions.

Over the course of her two-decade career teaching first and third grade in New York City public schools, Weiss infused nature and sustainability into her lessons. Now newly retired, Weiss had taken a look at her own pension fund — and didn’t like what she saw.

Anti-Renewable Group Says It Met Privately with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

— By Geoff Dembicki (3 min. read) —

With Alberta Premier Danielle Smith set to lift the province’s seven-month moratorium on renewable energy projects this week, wind and solar developers are urging the provincial government to refrain from introducing “punitive” and “arbitrary” regulations that impede the industry’s growth.

Smith nevertheless introduced sweeping new rules on Wednesday, including a minimum buffer zone of 35 km around protected areas or pristine views. She framed the regulations as good for wind and solar, saying “We must grow our renewable energy industry in well-defined and responsible ways.”

From the Climate Disinformation Database: McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is a private, U.S.-based global management consulting firm long associated with Big Oil. Until 2021, McKinsey & Company spent 66 years as a consultant for Big Tobacco. That same year, the firm agreed to pay $573 million to settle investigations into its role advising drug companies such as Purdue Pharma, on how to “turbocharge” opioid sales. McKinsey & Company has advised some of the world’s largest carbon emitters, including BP, Exxon Mobil, Gazprom, and Saudi Aramco, earning billions in the process. The company has also backed false climate solutions like carbon capture and storage, which has proven to be ineffective against lowering carbon emissions.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.